Hand knitting apparatus



April 14-, 1959 as. L. LUCHSINGER 2,881,605 HAND KNITTING APPARATUS 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 26. 1957 //v VE/VTOf? ERNST [.UCHS/NGEE.

ATTOENEK E. cs. Ll LUCHSINGER 2,881,605

' HAND KNITTING APPARATUS A ril 14, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept.26, 1957 m r N E v w v IV all/Ill] ERA/57' L L/CHS/NGEE'.

ATm/PA/Ex April 14, 1959 E. s. L. LUCHISINGER 2,881,605

'HAND KNITTING APPARATUS- S Sheets-Sheet Filed Sept. 26, 1957 v y mi Ias I I l I l I I I I l I I l I I I I I I I I l I I I lNVE/VTOI? ERNSTLUCHS/NGER.

ATTORNEI.

United States Patent HAND KNITTING APPARATUS Gustav Ludwig Luehsinger,Zurich, Switzerland, assignor to Palm-Holding A.G., Zug, Switzerland, a

eorporation of Switzerland Application September 26, 1957, Serial No.686,539

Claims priority, application Switzerland September 26, 1956 15 Claims.(Cl. 66-.-60)

The present invention relates to a hand knitting apparatus which mayhave one or two needle beds, and more pgrtieularly to a device forpulling the finished knitting from the knitting machine immediatelyafter it is propers are used for removing the knitting. Stripping rollsare'used, cooperating with rails or with a second roll and extendingover the whole width of the knitting for engaging and pulling down thewhole width of the knitting. These stripping rolls are spaced from andbelow the plane in which the needles move, requiring additional means toengage the newly formed knitting in the space between the needles andthe stripping roll and particularly for securing the knitting at thebeginning of the knitting operation until it is sufliciently long to beengaged by the stripping roll or rolls. Plow-like stitch holding tonguesare used, for example, for this purpose. In other machines one or morefreely rotatable rubber discs are used, individually having shafts whichare positioned normal to the plane in which the lock moves and which aresupported by the knitting retaining rail. These rubber discs rest on theknitting or on the needle bed, rolling thereon when the lock isdisplaced and pulling down the knitting onthe striking comb. The rubberdiscs are also unsatisfactory, because they, too, cannot be arrangedsufficieutly high to engage the first row of the stitches when theknitting operation is starte The knitting apparatus according to theinvention in- Gludes a knitting retaining device which is capable ofengaging the stitches immediately after they are formed and of engagingthe first formed stitches when knitting is started. A stripping rolleris provided which is positively driven by the movement of the lock andhas a rotating which is parallel to the direction of movement of thelock. The rotating roller engages the knitting as soon as it is formedand pulls it down. The roller is preferably located beneath the needlewhich is pushed from its rearrnost position to the advanced position sothat the uppermost stitch of the knitting is pulled by the roller intothe head of the advancing needle.

The novel features which are considered characteristic of the inventionare set forth with particularity in the apded claims.

p p The invention itself, however, and addial. o iscts n a g s no 1thereof will best be underfrom the following description of embodimentsIn industrial knitting machines various types of stripthereof when readin connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a part sectional bottom view of the portion of a lock on whichthe stripping rollers according to the invention are mounted.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the portion of the lock shown in Fig. 1,the section being made along line Il-'II in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the portion of the lock shown in Fig. 1,the section being made along line III--III in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional View of the roll driving mechanism according tothe invention, the section being made along line IV-IV in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a bottom view of parts of a lock provided with a modifiedstripping roller mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a section through the drive means of the stripping rollermechanism shown in Fig. 5, the section being made along line VI-VI inFig. 5.

Like parts are designated by like numerals in all figures of thedrawing.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawing, numeral 1designates a needle bed on which rests a plurality of parallel,longitudinally movable needles 2. A sliding lock includes carriers orbrackets 3 and 4 which are interconnected by means of a support bar 5having a substantially U-shaped cross sectional configuration. Aknitting support or retaining rail 6 and a roller carrier 7 are movablyconnected with the upper leg of the bar 5 for movement in a directionnormal to the bar 5. This is effected by providing slots 8 and 9 in therail 6 and in the carrier 7 through which slots pins 10 extend which areriveted to the upper leg of the bar 5. The rail 6 and the carrier 7 aresecured to the pins 10 by means of washers 11 and split rings 12 whichare individually inserted in an annular recess in the pins 19. The rail6 is pressed by two springs 13, engaging the outer ends of the rail,against rods 14 extending from a transverse bar 15 and forming astriking comb. The roller carrier 7 is provided with two flaps 16 whichserve as bearings for coaxial shafts 17 and 18. Bevel gears 19 and 20are mounted on the opposed ends of the shafts 17 and 18, respectively,the teeth of the bevel gears 19 and 20 meshing with a bevel gear 21whose rotation axis is normal to that of the shafts 17 and 18 and of thegears 19 and 20;. The gear 21 is made fast on one end of a drive shaft22 which is placed substantially normal to the plane in w ich the lockmoves, i.e., normal to the legs of the bar 5. A driving toothed wheel 23is mounted on the opposite end of the shaft 22. The teeth of the wheel23 are so constructed as to mesh with the rods 14 for rotating the wheelupon movement of the lock. The ends of the shafts 1'7 and 18 as well asthe end of the shaft 22 which ends are adjacent to the bevel gears 19,2t), and 21 are borne in bores of a U-shaped bracket 24 which is mountedon a support 25 extending from the carrier 7. The drive wheel 23 isplaced between the rail 6 and the support 25.

Each shaft 17 and 18 carries a roller 27, 28, respectively, the rollersbeing axially movable and rotatable relatively to the shafts. The farends of the rollers 27 and 28 are provided with saw teeth adapted tomesh with corresponding saw teeth provided on annular members 29 and 30,respectively, made fast on the far ends of the shafts 17 and 18,respectively. The mating saw teeth of the rollers 27 and 28 and of themembers 29 and 30 constitute free wheeling clutches. The carrier 7 withthe rollers 27, 28 is pressed against the rods 14 by two springs 26 sothat the rollers engage the rods and the teeth of the drive wheel 23extend between the The rollers 27, 28 are provided with conical ortaper-ed end portions. The surfaces of the cylindrical center portionsof the rollers, which cylindrical portions are their largest diameterparts, are provided with recesses or grooves which may be in the form offlutes. A guard rod 33 connected to the flaps 16 and the bracket 24extends parallel to the rotation axis of the rollers and closely to thefinished knitting. The center portion of this guard rod is not shown inFig. 1.

The device operates as follows:

When knitting, the lock is moved, for example, in the direction of thearrow 31 (Fig. 1). Due to friction between the surfaces of the rollers27 and 28 and the rods 14 and the knitting, the rollers are axiallydisplaced on the shafts 17 and 18 so that the saw teeth of the roller 28are disengaged from those of the member 30, whereas the roller 27 isclutched to the member 29 and to the shaft 17 so that the roller 27 isrotated in clockwise direction in Fig. 2, pulling the knittingdownwards. As seen in Fig. 2 the rotating roller engages the mostrecently formed stitch. The roller is so mounted on the lock that theroller is located beneath the needle which is being advanced so that theuppermost stitch 32 is pulled into the head of the advancing needle 2.The guard rod 33 prevents winding of a hanging thread on the rotatingroller or entangling of a thread in a clutch.

In'the illustrated apparatus the rotated roller is the one trailing thenon-rotated roller when the lock is moved. If the apparatus is used inconnection with knitting machines in which the trailing roller must notbe rotated and the forward roller must be rotated, the clutches must belocated at the ends of the rollers which face each other and therotation direction of the rollers must be reversed by mounting the bevelgear 21 at the end of the drive shaft 22 which is adjacent to thesupport 25.

Without departing from the scope of the invention a single roller may beprovided insteadof two rollers, which single roller is so long or can beaxially moved so far that it is always below the advancing needle duringthe knitting operation. The illustrated free wheeling clutches may bereplaced by any other type of conventional free wheeling clutches.Instead of the illustrated arrangement in which the drive wheel 23engages the rods 14 a separate rack may be provided which is engaged bythe drive wheel or the latter may be designed as a friction wheelrolling on the front of the needle bed.

Instead of the axial grooves on the rollers as illustrated, the groovesmay be arranged helically, or protuberances or brushes may be providedinstead of grooves.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention the springs 26 yieldinglypress the rollers against the rods 14 and/or the knitting. If therollers 27, 28 are made of a yielding material the springs 26 may beomitted and the carrier 7 may be rigidly connected with the bar 5. Thetension of the springs 26 may be made adjustable, for example, byplacing a wedge-like member between the springs 26 and the bar 5.

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate an embodiment of the invention in which rollercarriers 7' are rigidly connected with the knitting retaining rail 6 androllers 27' and 28 are rigidly connected with their shafts 17' and 18',respectively. Bevel gears 19' and 20 are mounted at the opposed ends ofthe shafts 17', 18, respectively, and are spaced so far apart that onlyone of them may engage a driving bevel gear 21'. The latter is mountedon a drive shaft 22' which is laterally displaceably supported so thatthe gear 21' can be made to engage either one or the other of the gears19', 20'. For this purpose a bracket 24', 25' supporting the shaft 22'is pivoted at 34 to the rail 6 and is additionally supported on the rail6 by a pin 35 which is rivetted to the rail 6 and extends through arelatively large hole in the upper plate 25 of the bracket 24', 25'supporting the latter by means of a washer 36. It is obvious that uponmoving the lock in the direction of the arrow 107 the bevel gear 21'will moveto engage the bevel gear 20' so that the roller 4 M a 28' isrotated upon continued movement of the lock in the direction of thearrow 107. The rotation is caused by the rolling of a driving gear 23'on the rods 14, the gear 23' being made fast on the shaft 22.

Fig. 5 shows the parts of the lock which effect the reciprocatingmovement of the needles required for knitting. These parts of the lockcorrespond to the respective parts of the lock shown in the applicationfor Letters Patent of Walter Bram, Serial No. 656,388, filed May 1,1957. The heavy dash-dot line 108 indicates the posi tion of the feet112 of the knitting needles. The light dash-dot line 109 represents aknitting needle which is about to be advanced, i.e., moved to the leftas seen in Fig. 5, from the idle or neutral position 108 by a guideelement 102 due to movement of the lock in the direction of the arrow107. The needle 109 which is about to be advanced extends towards theleading part of the large diameter portion of the roller 28', which isimportant for the proper functioning of the knitting removal apparatusaccording to the invention.

After reaching the fully advanced position 113 the needles are movedbackward by a guide element to the position 114. The back of a guide 101swingable on a fulcrum 110 and swung by the feet of the needles incounterclockwise direction when the lock moves in the direction of thearrow 107 returns the needles towards the neutral or idle position whichmovement is completed by a guide 103. The guide 102 is swingable on apin 111 so that it can be swung similarly to the guide 101 by theneedles when the lock moves in a direction which is opposite to thearrow 107, Swinging of the guide 101 in counterclockwise direction andof the guide 102 in clockwise direction is limited by abutment of theoutermost points 101' and 102' of the guides 101 and 102, respectively,against the guide 103. A weak spring, not shown, urges the guide 101 inclockwise direction untilits point 101 abuts against a rail 115.Likewise, a weak spring, not shown, urges the guide 102 incounterclockwise direction until its points 102 abut against a rail 115.

All embodiments according to the invention include an element removingthe finished knitting from the knitting machine, the element exerting apull on the knitting only in the direction away from the machine, -i.e.,downwards, and exactly at the point where this action is needed.Conventional plow-like tongues for holding down the stitches exert acomponent force on the knitting in the direction of the movement of thelock which force is greater the smaller the spacing of the knittingneedles, because the angle of incidence of the tongues must be greaterthe closer the needles are spaced so that at least three juxtapositionedstitches are engaged by the tongues. 7

What is claimed is: 1

1. A hand knitting apparatus, comprising a needle bed, knitting needlesplaced in spaced parallel relation-and being individually longitudinallyreciprocatingly movable on said bed, lock means slidable on said bedtransversely to said needles and including guide means engaging saidneedles for reciprocatingly moving said needles between a rearmostposition and an advanced position, a stripper roller rotatably mountedon said lock means to rotate on an axis which is below the advancedneedles and parallel to the sliding movement of said lock means and'toengage the most recently produced stitch of the knitting, rotatablemeans supported by said lock means, means connected with said needle bedand engaged by said rotatable means to rotate the latter upon slidingmovement of said lock means, and rotation transmitting means operativelyinterposed between said rotatable means and said roller for rotating thelatter.

2. A hand knitting apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said guidemeans are so placed relatively to said roller that the most recentlyadvanced needle is adjacent to said roller for pulling the most recentlyformed 1 5 stitch of the knitting onto the most recently advancedneedle.

3. A hand knitting apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which the endportions of said roller are tapered, the ends of the roller having thesmallest diameter.

4. A hand knitting apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which the surfaceof said roller is provided with recesses.

5. A hand knitting apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which the surfaceof said roller is provided with grooves.

6. A hand knitting apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which the surfaceof said roller is provided with axial grooves.

7. A hand knitting apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said rolleris elastic in radial direction.

8. A hand knitting apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said rolleris yieldingly mounted on said lock means.

9. A hand knitting apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which a knittingretaining rail is yieldingly connected with said lock means and saidroller is mounted on said rail.

10. A hand knitting apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which a knittingretaining rail is yieldingly connected with said lock means and saidroller is yieldingly mounted on said lock means.

11. A hand knitting apparatus, comprising a needle bed, knitting needlesplaced in spaced parallel relation and being individually longitudinallyreciprocatingly slidable on said bed between a rearmost position and anadvanced position, a striking comb mounted on said bed transversely tosaid needles and having teeth extending between said needles when thelatter are in advanced position, lock means slidable on said bedtransversely to said needles and including guide means engaging saidneedles for reciprocatingly moving said needles, a stripper rollerrotatably mounted on said lock means to rotate on an axis which isparallel to the sliding movement of said lock means, rotatable meanssupported by said lock means and engaging said striking comb to berotated upon sliding movement of said lock means, and rotationtransmitting means operatively interposed between said rotatable meansand said roller for rotating the latter.

12. A hand knitting apparatus, comprising a needle bed, spaced parallelknitting needles individually longitudinally reciprocatingly movablysupported by said bed,

lock means slidable on said bed transversely to said needles andincluding guide means engaging said needles for reciprocatingly movingsaid needles between a rearmost position and an advanced position, twostripper rollers coaxially individually rotatably mounted on said lockmeans to individually rotate on an axis which is below the advancedneedles and parallel to the sliding movement of said lock means and toengage the most recently produced stitch of the knitting, rotatablemeans supported by said lock means, means connected with said needle bedand engaged by said rotatable means to rotate the latter upon slidingmovement of said lock means, rotation transmitting means individuallyoperatively connected with said rollers, and drive means connected withsaid rotatable means to be rotated by said rotatable means, said drivemeans being alternately engageable by said rotation transmitting meansfor rotating either one or the other of said rollers.

13. A hand knitting apparatus as defined in claim 12 in which said drivemeans includes a drive shaft rigidly connected with said rotatable meansand extending substantially normal to the plane in which said lock meansare moved, said drive shaft being movably supported by said lock meansfor movement relative to said lock means and for lateral movement in adirection normal to the longitudinal axis of said drive shaft andsubstantially parallel to the direction of the sliding movement of saidlock means.

14. A hand knitting apparatus as defined in claim 12, said rotationtransmitting means including two independent coaxial shafts individuallyrotatably supported by said lock means and individually rotatably andaxially movably supporting said rollers, said drive means beingoperatively connected with both shafts for rotating both shafts, a freewheeling clutch being interposed between each shaft and the rollersupported thereby to be engaged upon movement of the respective rolleron its shaft in one direction and to be disengaged when the roller movesin the opposite direction.

15. A hand knitting apparatus according to claim 14 including a bevelgear mounted on said drive shaft, and a bevel gear made fast on each ofsaid independent shafts, said last mentioned bevel gears beingpermanently englagzd by said bevel gear which is mounted on said drive sa t.

No references cited.

